Alleged killer of Victor Jara was arrested

According to United States authorities, the alleged killer of Victor Jara was arrested last week in Florida, United States.

The presumed murderer of Victor Jara is said to be the former Chilean military officer Pedro Pablo Barrientos, accused of torturing and killing the iconic singer-songwriter Victor Jara 50 years ago.

The events occurred at the beginning of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship (1973-1990), and he was arrested last week in Florida, the southeastern United States, as announced by local authorities on Tuesday, October 10.

The killer of Victor Jara is now in the custody of US immigration services following his arrest in the city of Deltona on October 5.

It is expected that he will be extradited to Chile, where he has been wanted by the justice system since 2013.

“He will now have to answer to the charges brought against him in Chile for his involvement in the torture and extrajudicial executions of Chilean citizens,” said John Condon, the official in charge of the National Security Investigations Office in Tampa, in a statement.

Now, the former military officer, who had been living in the United States since 1989, lost his US citizenship in July after a court determined that he had concealed information related to his military service when requested.

Victor Jara’s Killer: Funeral

Victor Jara’s funeral took place on December 5, 2009, six months after his remains were exhumed, buried in secret for 36 years following his death by the agents of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship (1973-1990).

Victor Jara’s remains were exhumed by court order as part of an investigation into his death.

On August 28, 2023, the Supreme Court of Chile sentenced seven former Chilean Army officers to prison terms ranging from 8 to 25 years for the kidnapping and murder of the singer Victor Jara just days after Augusto Pinochet’s coup that overthrew socialist President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973.

In 2016, a federal court in Florida found Barrientos guilty of torturing and murdering Victor Jara in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of the popular Chilean singer.

At that time, Barrientos was a 24-year-old lieutenant and one of the officers in charge of detainees at the Estadio Chile, which was used by the military as a torture center.

A member of the Communist Party, Jara was tortured and killed with 44 gunshots after being detained at the Universidad Técnica del Estado, where he worked as a professor. He was 40 years old.

Victor Jara was the author of songs like ‘Te recuerdo Amanda,’ ‘El derecho de vivir en paz,’ and ‘Manifiesto.’

Victor Jara is considered a symbol of the Nueva Canción Chilena, a musical and social movement of the 1960s that extended into the early 1970s.

The murder of Victor Jara was documented shortly after the September 11 coup and was one of the atrocities committed by Pinochet’s dictatorship, which resulted in more than 40,000 direct victims.

Among them, approximately 37,000 were subjected to torture and political imprisonment, while 3,200 were executed or forcibly disappeared.

Barrientos’ arrest comes weeks after the Chilean Supreme Court sentenced seven retired military officers to prison terms of up to 25 years for the kidnapping and murder of Jara and former prison director Littré Quiroga.

The former Army officers Raúl Jofré, Edwin Dimter, Nelson Haase, Ernesto Bethke, Juan Jara, and Hernán Chacón were sentenced to 15 years for Jara and Quiroga’s murder, and an additional 10 years for both kidnappings, according to the judicial ruling.

Military officer Rolando Melo received an eight-year sentence as an accomplice.

Also read: What You Need to Know: Idea of living in El Salvador.